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Immigration in Poland and being surrounded by a monoculture? [134]
One way of preserving a culture is to share it and not attempt to make it a closed society.
My wife, whose parents were from a section of Poland that became part of the Soviet Union, and I started traveling to Poland three years ago. We purchased an apartment in Krakow and are planning for a two year stay once her citizenship is in place.
It will be up me to immerse myself in the culture and history, hopefully with help the Polish people. It is my obligation to learn as much of the language as possible (already started with Rosetta Stone and the help of my wife).
People in the United States ask, "Why Poland"? Most Americans here are in the dark as to the where Poland is located, that Poland has mountains and a rich long history and culture. Many Americans never heard of Poland until studying WWII in school.
Part of any immigration problem will be people from a closed society moving to an open society, wanting to maintain their closed society status. It does no work. Nor will an open society that looks down on the immigrant and refuses to let they try to assimilate.
These problems are easily illustrated in the United States where there is a long history of one immigrant population abusing the next. This is why we have Americans that call themselves Italian or Irish and live in communities that make it difficult for people of another ethnicity to penetrate even though we are all Americans. These people close their hearts and minds to anything different. I have found that most of the people in this group have never been to their ancestral home, Europe or even Canada.
Poland will never lose the Poland identity as long the people are proud and willing to share and there are those willing to learn.
....nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people. Mark Twain
